Gray — Irish Cromlechs. 243 



stone). Local tradition states that a stranger warrior has been 

 buried there. Apart from the monument itself, there are 

 scattered all round the vicinity large blocks of stone. Many of 

 them are now built into, or form parts of the boundary hedge. 

 Their distribution and character indicate that they are the 

 remains of some dismantled megalithic monument of very 

 considerable importance. 



3. MOUNT STEWART CROMLECH. 

 Sketch No. 3. 

 Within the demesne of Mount Stewart, in the parish of 

 Greyabbey, about five miles from the town of Newtownards, 

 there is a small cromlech-like monument, the remains of a very 

 remarkable cemetery that once existed here. It consisted 

 of a cairn of small stones about thirty feet in diameter and five 

 feet high, and constituted what might be denominated a 

 chambered tumulus.* In 1786 the then owner of the estate 

 considered it desirable to drain the field, and the work was 

 undertaken, calculating upon the advantage of having so large 

 a supply of suitable material for filling up the drains. As the 

 workmen employed removed the stones from the cairn, or 

 tumulus, they exposed on the southern portion of the heap a 

 number of cists or stone chambers (between sixty and seventy), 

 formed of stones on edge, and covered by flags. In the north- 

 west corner of most of the chambers there was deposited a 

 cinerary urn, many of them being quite perfect and elaborately 

 decorated with the usual incised patterns, specimens of which 

 are to be seen in private collections, and in the Belfast Natural 

 History Museum. The central chamber was very much larger 

 than the surrounding cists, and constitutes the subject of our 

 sketch. At the side of the cromlech one of the smaller cists, 

 or sepulchral chambers, is preserved. A full description of the 

 exploration of this monument is given in a pamphlet, entitled 

 " An Historical Essay on the Parish and Congregation of Grey- 

 abbey," by Dr. S. M. Stephenson, published in Belfast in 1828. 

 * See Ulster Journal of Archaeology. 



